What Couples Argue About

The economic downturn has yielded an upswing in domestic discord, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs/PayPal survey released this month. The polling, fielded in December, found 43 percent of U.S. respondents saying the recession "has caused them to argue more often" with their significant other. Ipsos suggests in its own analysis of the findings that volatility in the "power dynamic" between partners plays a role, as job losses or salary cuts have upset the usual balance of domestic power in many households.

Money is the foremost bone of contention (cited by 31 percent of respondents), followed by household chores (28 percent), in-laws (22 percent) and sex (15 percent). Fourteen percent of those polled said they have ended a relationship "due at least in part to financial issues."

One telling statistic in a time of austerities: 23 percent of the respondents confessed to hiding purchases from their partners, up from 18 percent a year earlier.

The economic downturn has yielded an upswing in domestic discord, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs/PayPal survey released this month. The polling, fielded in December, found 43 percent of U.S. respondents saying the recession "has caused them to argue more often" with their significant other. Ipsos suggests in its own analysis of the findings that volatility in the "power dynamic" between partners plays a role, as job losses or salary cuts have upset the usual balance of domestic power in many households.

Money is the foremost bone of contention (cited by 31 percent of respondents), followed by household chores (28 percent), in-laws (22 percent) and sex (15 percent). Fourteen percent of those polled said they have ended a relationship "due at least in part to financial issues."

One telling statistic in a time of austerities: 23 percent of the respondents confessed to hiding purchases from their partners, up from 18 percent a year earlier.